Sales Training Derby

Sales training can help motivate and polish seasoned sales veterans and give the necessary tutoring and confidence to the fledgling salesperson. In either case, it can reinforce the prime goal: closing. Check the listings below for local sales training services and info.

How to Close a Sale

Closing a sale is possibly the area of sales that people find the most challenging. However, this shouldn’t be the case. There are in fact plenty of ways in which a sale can be closed, with the tactics employed depending on the circumstances.

Create a sense of urgency – it’s often the case that customers are happy to proceed when they get around to it. With timing being much more important to you it’s important to create a sense of urgency. This can be done through offering a limited-time discount or adding in an extra service if they book now.

Recognise the customer’s thought process– what kind of questions are they asking? If they’re enquiring about the length of the set-up process or delivery times the chances are that they’re strongly considering making a purchase. See this as a signal to close the deal.

Offer a free trial or a money-back guarantee – magazines offer a free one-month subscription because they know the power of free trials. A free trial or money-back guarantee if they aren’t completely satisfied are extremely powerful ways of helping you to close a deal.

Remain upbeat – don’t let a few setbacks get you down. Stay confident and try to become genuinely excited about what your product or service could do for the prospect.

Mention the implications of not going ahead with the sale – will their competition take up the opportunity instead? Maybe they’ll miss out on the holiday rush?

After a “yes” get the agreement into writing – verbal agreements are notoriously easy to break, but people are always hesitant to break an agreement when they’ve given their word in writing.

Mention their competition – if the prospect of additional customers or an improved business isn’t appealing enough you can always mention their competition. Staying ahead of the competition brings out competitive instincts and often helps to close a deal.

Listen to the customer – if they express reservations or concerns listen to them and provide solutions where possible. Show that you’re on their side – far too many sales people don’t listen and consequently alienate their customers.

Customer objections – this works best if the customer has one objection. Provide a solution to the objection...

How to Master the Art of Selling

Selling is an area of business that many people dislike, whether it’s telemarketing or face-to-face selling. It takes quite a bit of skill to become an effective salesman but through developing a particular mindset and following some important advice you can begin to master it.

Confidence

One of the most important attributes to have when selling is confidence – you must sound and appear confident. Remember that many of the most confident people aren’t inwardly confident, yet they can show confidence on the outside. Show this outward confidence and it’s amazing how potential customers will listen to what you have to say.

Know your Business

There’s nothing worse than a salesman who doesn’t fully understand what he’s selling. As Krik Tatnall, an account executive at SciFi.com, says about his business:

“Knowledge matters more than you can imagine. When you see someone who doesn't really know his business trying to fake it, you get that message very quickly.”

Make sure that you know your product, business and industry inside out. Also, don’t neglect your competitors – customers are likely to ask why they should purchase your product or service over those of your competitors.

Appearance

Research suggests that you have less than 30 seconds to interact with someone before they form an opinion of you. Over the phone you have even less time, 10 to 15 seconds, before someone forms a lasting impression of you.

For face-to-face selling having a professional appearance is vital. It’s best to be over-dressed than to be dressed too casually – the last thing you want is to end up standing next to one of your competitors, with them wearing a suit and you wearing a casual shirt.

For selling over the phone the first 15 seconds are vital so make sure you know what you intend to say. Getting words mixed up or sounding hesitant will result in a bad first impression, something that is very hard to change.

Planning

Before cold-calling a prospect it may be beneficial to first send a mailing and follow this up with a call. However, there are some common misconceptions when it comes to doing this, particularly regarding its effectiveness, so when following up with a call take into account the following advice:

Most of the time people don’t read sales letters. Therefore don’t expect people to know the details of your product or company, let alone your company name.

Don’t start with, “I sent you a letter. Did you get it?” There’s a huge misconception that sending a sales letter beforehand makes starting a conversation easier. It doesn’t. You’ll almost always get one of the following replies, “What letter? What was it about? What...

The Perfect Sales Pitch

Whether you’re making a pitch to try to win a new project, to make a sale to a potential customer, or for investment, there are some tried and trusted tips to help you pull off the perfect pitch.

1.Have an Outline

You may know everything there is to know about your product or business but this information has to be organised when making a pitch. Therefore an outline of your pitch is vital. Always follow the following tried and trusted approach:

·Tell your audience what you are going to tell them

·Tell them

·Tell them what you told them

2.Dress to impress

This almost goes without saying but many people still dress far too casually when making a pitch. The first thing that your audience will notice are your clothes – with first impressions so important make sure your clothes are portraying the right image.

3.Be enthusiastic

Enthusiasm can be infectious – show that you have a passion about your product or business.

This is a common mistake. Many people put far too much information on slides and nervousness results in them simply reading them out. Keep the words on your slides to an absolute minimum to prevent this temptation. It’ll also give the audience more of an incentive to listen.

6.Don’t talk too fast

When people get nervous they usually talk too fast. Remember that during a pitch the audience is hearing it for the first time. Speak too fast and they’ll be left behind.

7.Remember to take pauses

Silent pauses are seen as something to avoid at all costs. However, during a pitch they are essential to allow the audience time to think about exactly what you’ve just said.

8.Watch your body language

Remember the advice from speaking coach Dan Sapp – “Keep your weight balanced on both feet; it conveys strength for both men and women. Think of the metaphor of people who have both feet on the ground.”

9.Make eye contact

Experienced speakers always speak about the need to make eye contact with your audience. This doesn&rs...